International gangs target rich in region to steal prestige cars

INTERNATIONAL crime syndicates are preying on some of Yorkshire's most exclusive postcodes and police have noticed a dramatic rise in thefts of luxury cars.

Organised gangs of criminals are now travelling to North Yorkshire to target homes in Harrogate, York and Skipton before stealing vehicles off the owners' driveways or from the streets outside the properties.

Senior officers from North Yorkshire Police announced yesterday they are launching a new offensive to tackle the crimewave, which has seen models including Porsche, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and BMW stolen.

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Assistant Chief Constable Tim Madgwick claimed the thieves are often travelling short distances from Leeds and Bradford to carry out the so-called "two-in-one" burglaries – where a property is broken into with the aim of stealing a vehicle by taking its keys.

But he admitted that many offenders are caught up in "sophisticated criminal operations" with international links which have seen stolen vehicles shipped abroad while using false registration plates.

Mr Madgwick said: "A lot of the time we are seeing repeat offenders travelling to North Yorkshire who are often linked to organised criminal gangs.

"These are sophisticated criminal operations, which spread across the country and abroad with the main players often living elsewhere to avoid detection.

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"It would not surprise me if cars that have been stolen in North Yorkshire are now being used across several different continents.

"We need to dismantle the ways these gangs of criminals are operating, by not only taking out the offenders who are committing the crimes in the first instance, but also the people who are overseeing these operations as well." Official figures have revealed that 161 two-in-one burglaries were carried out across North Yorkshire in the six months up until the end of September.

More than a third of the offences were, however, committed in the Harrogate district, where 57 burglaries took place. A further 26 offences were carried out in York, and 13 break-ins where a vehicle was taken happened in the Craven district.

The thieves are often paid as little as 250 for taking the car, although the vehicles are then sold on the black market for as much as 15,000.

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The new crackdown, dubbed Operation Highwayman, will involve North Yorkshire Police officers liaising closely with their colleagues in West Yorkshire to gather intelligence on the gangs of car thieves.

Mr Madgwick also confirmed officers will also work with the Serious Organised Crime Agency to try and bring those behind the international gangs to justice.

The intelligence-led operation is also looking to tackle other offences, including drug dealing and drink-driving, but its main focus will be to target the growing problem of high-value car thefts.

It is looking to build on the initial successes of Operation Raccoon, which was launched in the Harrogate area to tackle the growing problem of two-in-one burglaries.

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Police in North Yorkshire have been aware of the lucrative illegal trade in luxury cars for several years.

The Yorkshire Post revealed in 2007 that detectives had foiled an international crime ring dealing in cars as far afield as the Baltic states after thieves preyed on victims over the internet.

Eastern European criminals used fake bank drafts to dupe owners out of their executive cars after the vehicles had been advertised on auction websites.